#170: Leadership Lessons from the Marine Corps with Tanner Wortham

What can Agile leaders learn from the Marines? In this episode, Tanner Wortham joins Brian to share how principles of military leadership—like building authority into the trenches, experimenting under pressure, and prioritizing shared mission over ego—map surprisingly well to modern Agile teams.

Overview

In this conversation, Brian sits down with Marine Corps veteran and Execution Architect Tanner Wortham to explore the parallels between leading Marines and leading Agile teams. Drawing from both military and coaching experience, Tanner unpacks how the Corps’ “rule of three,” mission-first mentality, and obsession with experimentation mirror the best of Agile thinking.

They discuss how effective leadership empowers decision-making at the edges, why conflict shouldn't be avoided but navigated with curiosity, and how facing toward hard problems—rather than away from them—builds high-performing, resilient teams. Whether you're coaching a Scrum team or leading large-scale transformations, Tanner’s insights offer a fresh lens on what it really means to lead with agility.

References and resources mentioned in the show:

Tanner Wortham What the Corps Calls Leading Marines Others Call Agility #113: Influence Without Authority with Christopher DiBella #135: Leading Without Authority with Pete Behrens #132: Can Nice Guys Finish First? with Scott Dunn Get the Agile Skills Video Library Use code PODCASTSKILLS for $10 off Subscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast

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This episode’s presenters are:

Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.

Tanner Wortham is a former Marine turned leadership coach who helps teams and execs cut through the noise, lead with clarity, and actually get things done. With experience at LinkedIn, Salesforce, and beyond, he brings a no-fluff, human-first approach to growth, agility, and real leadership.